


Silver Arrows

by KiaKatFish



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-24
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-06-04 06:12:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6644518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KiaKatFish/pseuds/KiaKatFish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kilogiatara Tagmasta (Kigia for short), is Faerie of one of the Pacific Clans slowly getting used the calm life. When news comes that another clan had been kidnapped, his own clan finds themselves ambushed in the night.  How will Kigia adjust to his new life where his freedom is no longer in his own hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kilogiatara Tagmasta (Kigia for short)

 

Gentle light warmed my skin; a calm ocean breeze rocked the hammock, slowly stirring me awake. Lazily opening my eyes, I smile to see him already awake, his deep blue eyes watching me, his strong arms wrapped around my waist. It couldn’t have been comfortable but he seemed too happy to care.

“Sahan Larena…”  _ Good morning _ he murmurs before pulling me in even closer and placing a kiss on my forehead, tickling a soft laugh from my chest.

My tan hands and webbed fingers contrast his pale face, slightly peeling from his constant sunburn, and dark curly hair still unused to the humid air, as I cup his face with one hand and brush a curly strand of hair from his face with the other.  “Sahan Larena, Kada.”  _ Good morning, Kada _ I whisper back to him. “Ten mama’win jeysi’yatei. Kirsa’win vsu. ”  _ We have to get up. I have to go guard.  _ I tell him, getting ready to get up but Kada’s arms around me tighten as he hides his face in the crook of my neck.

“Fes. Fes! Fes! Ki’salmane’mi nane!”  _ No. No! No! I love you too much! _ He whines into my neck, nuzzling the orange scales there. I sigh, watching his long, pointed ears droop, and pat him on his muscled back. I really do have to get up at this point, my shift starts soon. But what could I do? He weighed a good 40 pounds more than me, built to be able to pull a sturdy bow string back. I have no escape and right now he was pulling on my heart strings.

He turns his head up and starts kissing my jaw, trying to convince me to stay in bed, but all it gets him is my hand pushing his face away before somehow managing to scramble out of the hammock without falling on my face. Thank Goddess for small miracles. I can hear Kada whining behind me when I walk to the mirror hanging on my wall. I look over my wavy teal hair, my freckled dark skin, half covered in orange scales, to my long pointed ears with yellow fins on the underside. I’m not as bulkily built as Kada, but made of lean muscles from years of duel wielding and working as guard. I look down at the ruffled black and white feathers of my wings that start on the small of my back and end far past my feet. I preen and pat messed feathers back into place, making them look pristine and respectable. I then grab my comb and try to manage the teal wavy mess of my hair, at least to make it look somewhat decent. I don’t hear when Kada walks up behind me and wraps his arms around my middle.

“Kagiame’tirinnia’win jeysi’yatei?”  _ Someone finally decided to get up?  _ I ask, turning my head to look at his still half-asleep face resting on my shoulder. “Fes...”  _ No…  _ he murmurs in my ear before lifting me up with ease and walking back to the hammock. I kick my legs, trying to make him let me go, my wings still mostly on the ground, now ruffled up again.

“Kada! Kirsa’win vsu!”  _ Kada! I have to go guard!  _ I scorn him before he puts me down laughing loudly at my reaction. I just cross my arms across my chest and glare at him, narrowing my eyes, watching his face slowly go from a grin to a face of guilt. He hugs me tightly to his chest and kisses me all over my face, trying to win me over.

“Dateo…  Ki’salmane…”  _ Sorry… I love you…  _ He apologizes softly, his kisses slowly tickling me enough to quietly laugh, giving my fake anger up. I cup his face with my hands, standing up onto my toes and pulling him down to kiss him. His lips feel soft and surprised against mine but slowly mold against my own. His arms pull me even closer, our contrasting bodies touching skin to skin. I pull away, gentle smile on my own face, my brain not processing what I had just done on my own accord until I look up at Kada. He’s wearing the stupidest grin on his face, enough to show his dimples, very pleased with himself. I can just feel my skin turning pink.

“M-mosa, mosa’ganga tifi’stenteke…”  _ W-we, we should get dressed…  _ I mumble out of embarrassment, looking at Kada’s shoulder rather than his face, before walking to my rack and picking out the clothes for the day; black leggings and a slightly ripped up at the end white tunic. I got dressed facing away from Kada, who was probably doing the opposite, knowing him.

Fully dressed, and Kada surprisingly dressed as well in worn green shirt and ripped khakis, I pulled my harness and daggers onto my shoulders, making sure my straps still fit. I stepped onto the balcony, Kada behind me, his bow and quiver strapped to his own back. I spread my wings, basking in the morning sunlight and the salty ocean breeze hitting my face and wings, making the feathers ruffle and fluff. 

Closing my eyes, taking a deep breath in before letting the breath out and stepping off the balcony. My spread wings catch the air as I fall and stop me from crashing into the ground. With a few short flaps, my feet stepping onto the dirt, the force of the landing pushing me a couple strides forward. I was about to look up to watch Kada to find him behind me, already landing, his snowy owl wings already closing. He steps toward me, planting a kiss on the crown of my head, placing his hand on the small of my back, just above my wings, leading me toward the canteen.

The building itself is just a large tent with net walls to keep flies and mosquitos away from the food, except around the kitchen, where the walls are a bit thicker. Inside there are 20 worn wood tables, that have been used for centuries now and another 4 tables covered with food, held warm with a bit of magic. The line to the buffet was luckily short, being still too early for everyone else in the clan to be awake. We got bowl s of rice with freshly caught grilled fish, bowls of mango slices, and a cups of coconut milk. Kada glared at his fish as we sat down at one of the multiple tables, missing the days in Germany, not having to eat fish for breakfast everyday. I just laugh at him quietly before putting my elbows on the table, and closing my hands together in prayer. 

The prayer is said softly, just under my breath. It's not meant to be heard by others, only by yourself and the Goddess. It's delicate and I’ve always loved whispering it to myself before meals or going to bed. I slowly blink my eyes open and look up at Kada, already digging into the rice with his hands, trying hard to ignore the fish. I chuckle softly and reach over for a mango slice.

Breakfast went in normally. I eventually had to bribe Kada into eating the fish with kisses. The sun is already high in the sky by the time we finished and everyone else in the clan are beginning to groggily go get food. The shops are beginning to open and the laughter of young pups running after the elders for their lessons could be heard throughout the clearing. I said goodbye to Kada as he went toward the group of other hunter, greeting each other and beginning to prepare for the day’s hunt.

I watched over the clearing for a few seconds, making sure everything was in order. A hand touches my shoulder, I turn to see my partner for the shift, Fabrel. She’s shorter than me, with light pink and orange hair, bright yellow scales freckle her face, her seaweed green eyes looking up to me, her beauty catches the eye of many of the Fai around the clan. She grins up at me, “Kagia! Ready to go?” Tilting her head toward our post. I nod and smile back, slowing my pace, not to out run her. She pouts, puffing up her cheeks, as I chuckle, poking a bit of fun out of the younger faerie. As we walked towards one of the taller trees in the clearing, a platform sits among the higher branches, unnoticeable with all the green foliage surrounding it, even from below it is almost impossible to find, unless you know that it exists before hand.

To get to the guard platform we had to fly to the top of the tree and squeeze through the branches to it, but when there, a we could easily see the whole area of the clan and a good chunk of the ocean. Usually the ocean was clear of ships, sometimes showing a shark fin, island itself unknown the humans, and close to impossible to find without a Fai guide. It was perfect for the clan to stay secluded and undisturbed. I place my hands on the railing and leans over, taking a deep breath of the salty air, this is where I belong, this is my home. From the deep green foliage of the Philippine jungle to the clear blue ocean and soft sand beach, this island has been where I have grown up, where I learned about our history, our Goddess and, most importantly, our ancestors. The first of our species, that sacrificed themselves for the good of the next generation, changing our biology completely and allowing any Fai, of any gender, to be able to not only carry pups, children, of our own, but to sire pups as well.

The argument between the clans though is that, some clans believe that the ancestors ascended to sit with the Goddess and her spirits, others believe they have disappeared completely, not even enough to be put in a proper burial. There are so many ideas as to what had happened with no answered that it caused the clans to war with eacher, Elders meeting only once every couple hundred year to yell at each other about who’s right. My clan’s Elders are more open to all ideas, being open to inter clan Bonding, unlike many others. I count myself lucky for that, it’s a gift, one that allows me to stay with my clan but be with Kada as well. 

“Kagia!” Fabrel snaps me out of my thoughts. I look up at her confused, hoping I didn't upset her. She looks at me with her arms crossed, as well as her expression.

“Were you listening? I asked you about the necklace!” She points a webbed finger at the small silver arrow on a leather cord around my neck. I look down at it and pick it up between my fingers with a soft smile.

“Oh this? Kada got it for me.” I brag happily. I tell her about how Kada and his group of other hunters recently visited one of the human inhabited islands, looking on getting some scrap metals for the blacksmiths when Kada saw the pendent at one of the little stores and told me he just had to get it for me. 

I rub my thumb over the tiny engravings on the arrow. I don't own many personal things, some things my mother gave to me, my sea shell comb, a box of dried flowers, but nothing that isn't from my family. The necklace is probably the only thing I have from Kada. I get lost in thought again, trying to think of what I could get Kada in return. 

I look up, snapping out of thought, seeing that Fabrel is glaring at me again. She rolls her eyes and walks to the other side of the platform to watch the beach. I sigh, feeling a bit bad for ignoring the other Fai before looking down at the clearing below.

It's late morning by now, the clan is bustling with Elders leading groups of 5-20 pups, depending on age,and other Fai going either to get food or to their job. I notice one Fai, running after one of the Elders with her pup in her arms. She catches up and places the half asleep child down, kissing it's head before going off in the direction of the blacksmith shop. I smile at the pup trying to follow the rest of its class, stumbling but being helped up by its friends. I chuckle and sigh happily; pups are adorable. 

I can still remember when I was dragged up every morning to the Elder’s lessons about our history, our heroes and our Goddess and her spirits. I enjoyed all of them but some Elder’s, like Elder Latrii, who are known for being able to put a whole class to sleep from boredom. This Elder could make our greatest hero, Gahtra Onda, the Fai who saved us from slavery, who brought the clans grudgingly together for enough time to overthrow our slavers, who found new ways to fight with magic, sound extremely boring.

*    *   *   *

The rest of the day went smoothly as usual, a normal, calm day. I watched as Kada and his hunting group come back, carrying with them two hogs. Kada grins up at me, extremely proud of his catch for tonight's feast, that he doesn't notice that the rest of the group has walked away from him until he looks around completely lost. I smile to myself, that man is such a dits. When Kada finally finds the group, they’re closer to the canteen, laughing a bit at him but patting his back and going in together. 

Fabrel pats my shoulder, I flinch slightly in surprise before turning my head towards her, a soft smile on my face.

“Shifts over. You coming to the Bonfire tonight?” She asks as she grabs one of the benches above her and begins to climb up. I follow after her, moving between branches to the top and standing at the top of the tree. 

“Of course. Kada wouldn't let me miss it.” I grin before opening my wings and gliding down. She follows down but waves me off and walks in her own direction. I walk towards the canteen, where I saw Kada walk in, I move the net from the entrance and walk in. I hear loud laughter echoing throughout the tent. Kada stands on one of the tables, surrounded by his hunting group sitting around the table, as he tells an extremely exaggerated story with crazy gestures. 

“And then we heard leaves crunching, the noise quickly getting closer…” Kada lowers his voice and slowly crouches down and uses his hands to crawl forward then stops. “The noise suddenly stopped. We're all standing still, scared as to what has come toward us…” He turns his head slowly to his sides, looking around at his group. Then he suddenly stands up, shouting loudly. 

“Out of nowhere we saw the scariest of all animals!” The group yells in fear with him. “The forest weasel!”

The group suddenly stops yelling and then begin to glare at Kada.

“Aw come on! You're such an ass, Kada!” One of the Fai yell at him. 

Kada falls back laughing so hard that he’s holding his stomach in pain. I laugh a bit with him, to be honest it's hard not to, he really did get his group worked up with fear. 

The group gets up from the table and leaves the laughing Kada alone. I walk up to the table and sit down next to him, resting my chin in my hands, just waiting for him to slowly calm down from his laughing fit.

“Good evening, love.” I say softly towards Kada. That itself makes him turn towards me and grin.

“Kigia! I didn't see you come in.” He almost yells happily as leans over and kisses the bridge of my nose. He slides off the table and into the seat next to me, his arm wrapping around my waist to pull me in closer.

“I see hunting went well today.” I question him, just wanting to start a simple conversation.

“Oh! Yeah! We got two boars today! I shot one right in the forehead too!” He explains as he pretends to pull a bowstring back and then release an arrow, his tongue slightly sticking out from between his lips. I chuckles softly.

“I’m glad to hear that.” I assure him. He takes my hand and we walk towards the beach as he tells me the whole story with catching the boars and how he was so sure he saw a bear in the jungle, in which I assure him that it was not a bear and most closely a panther but even that is quite unlikely. 

We pass the rest of the evening walking on the beach, telling each other how our day went by. I tell him the gossip I heard between Miss Enendern and Miss Yergada, “Oh how could the baker only make raisin cakes today?! It's outrageous! Raisin cakes are usually only made on special occasions!” In which Miss Enendern reminded her of the bonfire, which brought the most satisfactory face of embarrassment onto Miss Yergada. Kada laughs wholeheartedly at my impersonation of Miss Yergada and how I get her poise and overestimated wisdom just right.

When we have nothing more to talk about we just sit on the soft sand, getting our toes wet in the waves, watching the sun set in comfortable silence. As the stars begin to shine brightly above us, the air around us gets cold and we decide to walk back to be on time for the bonfire. 

We decide to sit around of one of the multiple fires, one that is shared between the hunting group and some of the guards that aren’t on duty. We sit next to each other, a bottle of some kind of homemade mango alcohol is passed around as we wait for the boars to be roasted. Everyone seems to grimace in disgust at the taste of the drink in the bottle, even Kada's face sours at the taste. I take the bottle from him and have a sip, the drink is extremely sour and burn as it goes down my throat, I like it. I smile as the group looks at me in disbelief. 

“You actually like that shit?” One Fai asks me as he looks disgusted with me. I shrug and take another enjoyable sip.

“I like sour.” I chuckle and pass the bottle onward but it seems no one wants to take a second sip so it's passed back to me. I smile shyly, holding onto the bottle happily.

Fabrel runs up to our group, her face showing distress.

“Hey, did you hear what happened?!” There is fear in her voice as she looks around the group with wide, searching for an answer. Everyone looks at each other in confusion before turning back towards Fabrel.

“T-they got another clan… The slavers kidnapped another clan in Northern Europe…” She almost sobs out, one of the group members helps her sit down. I pass the drink around to her, she takes a weary sip before coughing.

“What the fuck is that?!” She looks at the bottle it disgust before putting it as far away from herself as possible. I roll my eyes, it's not that bad…

“That would make it the 7th clan that's been kidnapped, I think…” One Fai streaks up, he looks dully into the fire.

“Yeah? Well they should of been prepared better for an attack. We've dealt with human attacks before, shit, we've escaped slavery before, it's their own fault.” Another says, a scowl on his face as he looks around to see if anyone agrees or disagrees with him.

“That's bullshit!” I yell at him. “You can't just say that and feel good about yourself! We still don't know what's happening to those clans! For all we know the humans might be making gourmet meals out of those clans!” I glare at the other Fai with all the anger I can muster. said Fai begins to have a face of shock and disgust mixed together.

“I hope not or those humans are gonna get what they deserve….” He mumbles, now looking at the fire as dolefully as the other Fai sitting next him.

The night went on quietly, we all ate in almost silence, worrying about those who have been captured and if it might happen to us. Kada tries to crack a couple jokes to lighten the mood and it eventually works, the group being able to have light conversation and talking about their plans for the next day. I lean my head on Kada’s shoulder, the day’s work beginning to catch up to me, making me drowsy. Kada leans his head on top of mine and we sit there together as he talks and jokes with the group. 

I don’t notice when Kada picks me up, I must of fallen asleep sometime after the conversation picked back up.

“Hm… did I fall asleep…?” I murmur, opening my eyes from all the movement. Kada smiles at me and kisses my forehead.

“You started dozing off earlier until the guy next to you noticed you started snoring.” He chuckles softly as I turn my head in embarrassment. 

“Don’t worry, I’ll carry you home.” He smiles before looking up from my face and carrying me back up to our home. His wings silently take us up with ease, only causing a bit of a breeze on the ground as he pushes off. He softly land on our balcony and walks inside with me still in his arms.

“You can put me down, Kada. I have legs.” I laugh softly, still half asleep.

“I know you do, savetas, but you’re so light, that it's not a problem.” He says as he places me down on the hammock. 

He takes off his shirt before crawling in over me, wrapping his strong arms around me, holding me to himself. He rests his chin on my head,sighing contently. I chuckle  and wrap my arms around his waist, leaning my head on his chest before pulling away. He laughs as I use one hand to hold my nose closed. 

“Kada you smell like shit.” I groan turning away from him as he continues to laugh.

“I don’t smell that bad, do I?” He whines as he sniff his armpit and groans at his own smell.

“No you’re right I do.. Sorry love.” He sighs sadly. “Can I still hold you…?” 

I nod my head, not wanting him to feel like a kicked puppy. He wraps his arms around me again, pulling me close and resting his chin on my head again.

I begin to doze off again, listening to the singing and chatter from the bonfires and the gentle breathing at the back of my neck, lulling me to sleep.


	2. Silent Night

Chapter 2

Silent Night

 

I woke to a sudden blood chilling scream. My body freezes as a flinch awake, I try to sit up, my eyes wide open as I try to find where it came from. Kada groans next to me, slowly waking up.

“What's gahing on…?” He yawns sitting up. 

“I heard a scream…” I mumble out as I crawl out of the hammock and grab my daggers before walking out onto the balcony. 

I look down to find a thick mist covering the clearing, and quickly rising up. It swirls and pours between the trees lazily. I look around and see many other Fai are looking down from their balconies, but don't see any Fai on guard trying to find the one that screamed. Kada walks from behind me, holding his bow, and an arrow ready.

“That most definitely doesn't look natural, it's growing way too fast.” He looks down at the mist, that by now is half way up the tree. He tries to cast a spell to dispel the mist, but it seems unaffected.

“That's… That's weird. That spell usually works on things like this…” Kada looks at his hands then at the mist in confusion.

“Maybe we should get to higher ground just in case…” I mumble, just about to spread my wings and fly above the trees, only to see out of the corner of my eyes, another Fai try to fly up, getting up about 2 feet away from their balcony, only to suddenly fall down into the mist.

“What th-” Kada tries to comment only to be cut off by a scream from below, mist swirling up to fill in the hole the Fai made on the way down. I looks at Kada in fear in my wide eyes.

“That is not natural mist! What are we going to do?!” I panic, looking from Kada’s face to the rising mist. Kada looks around our little house in as much panic as I’m in.

“I-uhm.. Climb! Go higher into the tree!” He yells and starts to climb up through the branches of the tree inside the house. I lean over the balcony and cup my hands around my mouth.

“Climb up the trees!” I yell to the other Fai who seem to hear me as they turn back to their trees. I look quickly down at the mist, it's almost at the level of my balcony.

“Shiiiit!” I scream before running inside and frantically climbing the large branches. 

The climb gets harder as the branches become thinner the higher we go, breaking easily under weight. We reach the top of the tree with great difficulty, the night sky still above us that would slowly begin to lighten up in the next 2 hours. I clutch Kada’s hand for support on my shaky legs, Kada’s own hand trembling against mine. Other Fai are huddled up on the tops of their trees. I can see on another tree, the pup from this morning held closely by his mother, clutching her Bonded by the waist. My heart feels like it's in my stomach. 

I look up at Kada, who’s trying his best to look forward and not down. I feel my cheeks begin to be wet, I don't even realize when I started to cry.

“Kada… What's going to happen to us…” I whimper, staring as the mist begins to rise from below.

“I-I don't know…” He begins to break and sob.

The mist slowly appears from between the leaves at my feet, my legs tremble as I hold Kada’s arm tightly.

The mist covers my legs and crawls further up. My feet feel numb and I can't even see them at this point.

I close my eyes as the rest of my body is enveloped and numbed. As I breath it in, my throat burns, just as it did with that sour alcohol I enjoyed earlier this night. It's the last thing I feel as everything goes white then slowly to black.

 

I feel cold. The air feels humid against my skin. I try to open my eyes but I can't tell if I did or if the room around me is just dark. I can hear my groan echo as I try to move in someway but my hands seem to be fixed. I try to move my right arm and hear metal clanking together. _Shackles maybe?_ _It’d explain why my wrists hurt and my arms feel sore._ I try to stand next, my feet finding the wet stone of the floor. I can hear the wet dirt move against the stone as my feet slip and lose traction, groaning in pain as I put weight once again on my aching arms. I try to stand again, this time getting more traction and relaxing arms but my legs feel weak and shake under my own weight.

_ How long have I been here? Where even is here? _ I lift my head weakly, feeling weight around my neck, constricting my movements.  _ Is that..? Is that a collar…? _ I jerk my head in fear, trying to get away from the contraption around my neck as if it was on fire.

I hiss in pain as my head aches, letting my head drop between my scrunched shoulders. Tears well up and wetted my cheeks.  _ Okay, Kigia think, what do you remember.  _ I try to think back but everything seems fuzzy between the bonfire and now.

I groan in pain again,  _ Enough thinking for now _ , I listen to my voice echo, then just the soft drips of something falling from the ceiling. I tilt my head up, a drop falling right on my forehead. I try to lean my head further back opening my mouth.  _ Water.  _ This time the drop falls into my mouth _. Thank the goddess.  _ I didn't realize how dry my throat was until now, then again it seems I have not been conscious for long.

I hear a faint sound in front of me, echoing somewhere outside the room I'm in. The sound slowly gets louder.  _ Steps perhaps? _ Talking seems to accompany the sound, quite but in a low, rough voice, male most likely.

The steps sound prominent now, two different voices and steps. I try to listen closely to the voices. Then the steps stop.

“Separate them into three larger cells; the pretty one into the far one, the built ones into the one on the right, and everything else into the last one.” The rough voice spoke quietly, muffled by the door most likely, in what I could guess was English.

I’ve had trouble before understanding the language but it seems the little I learned as a pup is coming handy. I hear a door opening, and hear yelling in Faerie.

_ “Let me go! Let me go!”  _ It's a male voice and it's almost too easy to hear the shackles shaking because of the frantic struggling of the Fai.

There is a loud slap of skin on skin, the Fai going silent.

“Don't damage the merchandise!” The rough voice scolds.

“Well it shut it up, did it not?” The other voice argues. This voice sounds younger,  _ an apprentice…? _

“Damaged goods, especially the pretty ones, don't get us the as much coin as just roughened goods.”

“Well we're not selling them just yet…” The voice grumbles. The two men seem to walk out of that room, their voices getting louder, but are accompanied by a dragging sound that can only be assumed to be the panicking Fai.

“It looks pretty enough. Could sell it for a good 150, as long as you don't dislocate its jaw…” The voice says in annoyance.

Fear doesn't seem to strike me until this blood-chilling scream echoes throughout the hall, so loud that I can hear it clearly through the door. My mouth dries and my stomach drops. I can feel my legs shake and slip from underneath me in complete and utter fear. 

“Gag it will you?! It's gonna give me a headache!” The older voice tries to yell over the screams. The younger must of complied as the scream became muffled sobbing. Minutes pass, the sobs slowly become quite, the halls almost seem silent after the constant noise. 

The dragging noise returns, going further away from where I am. A door opens then slams shut.

The pattern continues, a door opening, a Fai dragged, muffled screaming, then a different door opened then closing. It became nauseating at one point, I didn't even know what caused the other Fai to scream in such a way but it made me want to vomit the little that I had in my stomach.

The younger voice suddenly laughs after a spout of gagged screams quieted. 

“Awww… This one pissed itself. How cute. Ugh.” The man makes a noise of a disgust before dragging the Fai off to wherever and closing the door with a hard slam. 

I hear the man walk down the hall and stops in front of my door. My whole body begins to shake in fear.  _ Goddess please, have mercy on me!  _ I beg silently as the door opens and light floods my vision. I close my eyes, too used to the constant darkness to see in such bright light. The squish of shoes on wet ground echos inside the cell. I try to open my eyes, at least to see the man in front of me. It must be the younger man, he looks no older than 25, he has long curly hair tied in a loose ponytail. His ears are pointed like mine but not as long with tufts of hair at the tip. He grins a toothy smile, with too many teeth for a regular man. 

“Oh? Well aren't you a pretty sight for sore eyes.” He chuckles as he walks up to me. He grabs my hair with one hand and pulls my head to the side. He presses his nose to my neck and takes a deep breath in through his nose.

“Don't touch me…” I manage to hiss out at him, my hands curling into fists.

“Or what little elf? You can't do shit to me.” He chuckles and unshackled my arms from the wall. My weak legs don't hold me up and I fall like a rag doll onto the floor.

“I, on the other hand can do as I please to you, as long as you still look pretty enough to sell for pretty penny.” He laughs, as grabs me by my wrist and pulls me.

I try to stand but he pulls me forward sharply before I can even get a foot underneath me. He drags me out of the cell and into the hallway. I look up, the hall is made of cold wet stone as the cell, lit by bright electric lights, the walls lined with metal doors with heavy locks. I don't know why I don't try to fight back, why I don't try to get away from him, I just feel weak, tired, and most of all too scared.

He drops my arm, my side hurting by now from being dragged against the floor. I try to lift my head from between my arms, to maybe at least glare at my capture but he grabs the collar from the back of my neck, my throat constricted by the collar as it cuts off my air flow, causing me to choke as pulls me to my feet.

I stand shakily, it's that or choking, which to be honest I don't know which is worse. He pushes me towards the wall and shackles me to it by the cuffs and collar. I turn my head and see a large cell with bars instead of a door. There are at least 20 Fai huddled up together, sobbing, watching me in fear and shaking their heads, mouthing something to me. I look at them closely.  _ Something is wrong. _ I try to find what is so normal to me that I don't notice it being gone at first.

 

_ Where are their wings? _

 

My eyes open wide in fear as I run my eyes over the thick bandages around their waists. I feel sick, I can feel the bile coming up but I try to keep it down. I quickly, too quickly, turn my head making myself sicker, face towards my captor as he walks up behind me, a rag in his hand.

“Now be a good pet and open up your mouth.” He twists the rag and brings it up to my face.

“G-get away from me!” I try yell at him, turning my face away from him. He grabs my hair and tugs it back, jerking my head back with it.

“Now now, don't be a brat.” He growls into my ear. He puts his fingers around my nose. “It’s either open up and I make this quick for you, or I force you and i’ll take my sweet time cutting your pretty little wings off.”

I want to scream.  _ Goddess save me, please.  _ I beg as I slowly begin to gulp for air. I open my mouth, gasping, choking only for a second before the rag is forced into my mouth and tied behind my back.

“Good pet.” The man chuckles, running his hands through my hair, I shudder at the touch. 

I don't want to look, I keep my head down between my arms, praying silently for rescue, for this to be just some cruel nightmare.

The pain is sudden but constant, I scream in pain into the rag in my mouth. He cuts close to my back, I can feel the blood dripping down my legs and pooling by my feet. Tears well up in my eyes as he reaches bone, pulling the knife out from my wings and then I go numb from the pain as he uses a different knife to saw through the bone. I can hear myself screaming, but it seems muffled, I can feel the pressure of the knife as it cuts off the rest of my right wing, but I can no longer feel the bright burning pain in my lower back. 

I don’t even notice when he begins to cut my other wing off, the numbness and screaming drown out the whole world around me, I only come back to myself as he wraps bandages tightly around my waist. The rag in my mouth lossens as he unties it and takes it out of my mouth.

“See? That wasn’t so bad now was it?” The man behind me chuckles as he unshackles my arms and collar from the wall. I fall to my knees, my whole body shaking in shock.

He grabs my arms and pulls me up to stand and pushes me toward the now unlocked door into the large cell. I fall forward but am caught by the Fai huddled up. I begin to sob loudly, putting my face into my hands. One Fai gently holds my face in her hands and pulls me into a hug as I cry. 

I end up huddled with the rest of the group, huddled up together praying quietly for a rescue, for this to end. My face feels puffy from all the crying as we all try make each other feel a little bit safer.

“Hey boss! Just finished up the last one!” He laughs loudly as he walks towards the other end of the hall way. “We got quite the collection don't you think?”

“We do have a large amount of pets this time. I think we can sell them as exotic and get at least 50 more for them then the ones Bergal sold last week.” The older voice says, echoing quietly throughout the hall.

“Well they definitely look better than he does!” The younger jokes, his voice getting fainter. Steps echo, but slowly get quieter till nothing can be heard from down the hall.

“What are we going to do…?” One Fai in the group asks. “W-we can't just stay here..!”

“Did I hear them right..? A-re they really going to sell us…? That can't be possible…” Another Fai says.

I stare thoughtlessly forward, I hear their words but they don't seem to process. I try to think, think back to how this happened then..

“Where's Kada…?” I mumble then lift my head, looking around the group. 

“Kada!” I begin to panic and search the faces of the Fai around me. Most of them are female, about my age, but I can see a couple younger males in the group, but no Kada. I try to stand, not caring about the pain in my lower back.

“D-don't get up..! You'll just hurt yourself…!” The Fai that was holding me earlier warns but I don't listen. I shakedly walk towards the bars, tripping twice but somehow catching myself.

“Kada?!” I yell into the hall, my voice echoing throughout.  _ Please Goddess let him not be here. Please tell me he got away. _ I pray to myself, begging for the first time of my left for my prayers to be acknowledged.

 

My prayers aren't answered.

 

“Ki-kigia…?” I hear faintly down the hall. “Kigia! Are you alright love?!” The voice gets louder.

I don't know what to tell him, I’m in pain, wingless, trapped in a cell, okay is far from what I am. But Kada is alive. But trapped here with me. My feelings are mixed. I’m relieved but filled with dread.

“I-I don't know…” I mumble loudly. Silence falls in the hall.

A Fai unsteadily walks up next to me, her face red and tears still welling up in her eyes. “Ramilda! Are you there?! Please Goddess tell you're okay!” She yells are tears fall like waterfalls down her cheeks.

“Cirla?!” A female voice yells back.

Suddenly every Fai in the hall seem to be calling for someone, a loved one, for the smallest comfort they can receive, that they are not alone here.


	3. Cages

After about an hour, they turned off the lights, the cells turning suddenly dark, but anything but silent. Many Fai hold onto each other, whimpering or praying softly in Faerie, just to know they are still alive. I lean against the stone wall, my back feeling cold as I am wearing only a thin shirt, not made for such cold temperatures. There is Fai with long yellow hair huddled up to my side, her head resting on my shoulder, covering it in bouncy curls, but her whole body shakes either from fear or the cold. 

No one seems to sleep through the night, too scared to close our eyes for even a minute. The idea of being attacked again during the night stopping us from even feeling tired, the adrenaline somehow still pumping in our blood. The lights get turned back on hours later as two steps begin to sound down the hall.

“Get this cell chained together and get them out to the court yard. I want them tested before we sell them tomorrow.” We hear the older voice from before order.

“When are we feeding them?” The younger voice asks.

“The ones that pass get fed later, the ones that don’t, get moved into the other cell. They can get fed the leftovers.” Another voice says, an old voice, a man well into his years, a voice we haven’t heard earlier.

The door to the said cell creaks open and the sound of shackles echos after it. It’s impossible to see what is happening down the hall from the cell or the position I’m in since the Fai at my side holds me close to herself, as if I could protect her from her surroundings, stopping me from moving even an inch in any direction.

Minutes pass and eventually we hear bare feet walk across the dirty stone, chains shaking with each step. The amount of chain must be large since the ringing is loud and clear, almost drowning out the sound of boots on stone that seem to walk after the bare feet. 

Eventually the sound of chains seems to get quieter, until it’s gone and the hall is filled with silence once again.  

Steps walk towards our cell, followed by metal scraping across the ground. A man stops by the door, a metal basin, almost the size of a tub, in his hand. He looks about 40, a short beard covers his jaw with black hair, just as the short hair on his head. He had weirdly pointed ears, tufted at the ends just as the younger man’s. He puts the basin down and walks away, all the Fai in the cells’ eyes following his movements. He grabs a hose from somewhere off the wall, water running from it already, and places into the basin, slowly filling it up. He doesn’t seem interested in us at all, compared to how we stare at him in fear, waiting for him to do something to us. 

Minutes pass, and eventually the basin fills up and he takes the hose out and putting it back onto the wall. He unlocks the door to the cell, leaving it open as he drags the basin inside. We scoot furiously away from him and the basin, trying to make ourselves as far from him as possible in the small cell.

“Here’s some water for you guys, don’t want you to be dehydrated.” He says calmly, not even looking at us but the ground, or possibly even his own feet.

We look at him suspiciously, not trusting at all the contents of the basin or his intentions. He sighs and grabs a handful of water from the basin and takes a sip of it, most of it dripping down his face and falling into the ground in drops, his fingers not webbed as ours and don’t hold water well.

“See, it’s fine. I didn’t do anything to the water, I promise.” He mumbles before walking out of the open cell door and closing it behind himself.

“I-I’ll be back with food soon….” He stumbles out before walking away. We watch him leave our field of vision, confused more than scared of him at this point. We eventually then turn our attention to the basin, not exactly sure of what to do, even though I was sure we all really need to drink something soon. Soon enough, one Fai gets up and cautiously walks over to the basin, limping lightly from the pain on his lower back, and dips his hand into the water, looking at it suspiciously before taking a cautious sip. We stare at him, waiting for something to happen, but nothing appears to happen. He takes another handful of water and drinks it down quickly. Others begin to join him, taking handfuls as big as their webbed hands can hold. I walk up as well, finally feeling the pain of my dry throat more than my back. Just as I grab a shaky handful of water and drink it down as fast as physically possible. A slight feeling of relief washes over me. The water feels cold as it travels down into my stomach. I begin to shake from the cold, but the need for water wins over as I grab for another handful of water.

The basin empties rather quickly, chilling our bodies from the inside with the icy water in our bellies. We huddle up, hugging each other, sitting in each other's laps’, struggling for warmth once again. I sit with the same Fai from earlier, she sits in my lap, my arms around her waist, chin resting on her shoulder, holding her close for warmth. Her curls brushing against my face with each shaky breath, her hands rest on top of mine.

“Goddess save us…” She whimpers out, tear drops softly falling onto my arms. I sigh, not knowing how to deal with my own feelings, let alone this girls’. I let her cry herself out, sitting and waiting for my body feel at least not as cold. 

 

Steps are heard hours later, chains shaking with each step. Alongside the constant clinking is the sound of heavy objects being dragged across the floor, but they didn't sound anything like the metal basin from earlier.

“Put these with the rest. Get the good ones water and food. Can't have them passing out at the auction.” The oldest voice gravels out.

Two doors open then shut, although not at the same time, the chains no longer shaking, bringing back the terrifying silence. This time it seems a different metal basin of some sort is dragged into the earlier opened cells, the sound of water hitting against metal.

“Get the pretty ones tied up and taken to the court yard.” The oldest voice orders again. We look between each other, a feeling passing over us that he means us. The younger man, the one who cut our wings off walks up to our cell, a rope in his hand and a grin on his face. 

“Let’s go pets. Gotta see who’s gonna get us the biggest profit.” He boasts while unlocking the cell and walking towards us, who scramble further back to the wall, away from him.

“Oh don’t be afraid we won’t beat you just yet.” He chuckles as he lunges towards us and grabs one Fai by the arm. He whimpers in his grip, trying to pull away from him weakly. He grabs his collar and ties to rope into the loop on the collar, the drops him. He yelps in pain when he hits the ground before scrambling as far from him as the rope allows.

“Shut up!” He shouts at him before grabbing another Fai and tieing the rope to their collar and dropping them beside the first Fai. He grabs the girl next me next, she doesn’t fight him, too scared to be hurt again. He ties her up and drops her next to the first Fai.

He then grabs my arm, I pull on my arm, my legs trying to have some footing against the stone and to pull stronger away from him. He jerks my arm towards himself, making me slip and be held in his grip limply. His other hand moves my chin up to look at him.

“Oh, you’re the real pretty one from earlier. Maybe Nolan will let me have some fun with you later.” He chuckles, looking closely at my face. I glare him with pure rage before spitting at his face, hitting him right in the eye. I smirk at his look, thinking the spit would burn with a little bit of magic, but all I see his face of complete disgust, as he drops me to wipe his face from my spit. I land on my butt, so I look up at him with a look of surprise that my magic hadn't work but also pure satisfaction. He hits me right across the face, my head turning to the side from the impact. My cheek burns in pain as I lift my hand to cover it to try to heal it a bit , but my arm in seized up by the man again.

“That was quite rude, pet. Now get back in line.” He growls into my ear, pulling on my collar next and tieing me onto the rope. He throws me next to the other tied up Fai, not even giving me a second look after that but a very dog-like snort of amusement. I don't try anything after that, my cheek hurts as does my back from landing on it. I wait quietly, huddled up with the tied up Fai, watching as he ties up the rest. It took the man a bit since we weren't a small group after all but when he finished, he grabbed the first one and pulled her to her feet, pulling everyone else as well. We stand in line, the rope keeping us close to each other. He pulls the first Fai forward and out of the cell, the rest of us following close. 

We walk down the long corridor, passing all the locked doors that used to be our individual cells. We then pass a large cell, one fill with Fai, everyone slows down walking by, looking for a familiar face. I search for Kada’s face but don't see anyone other than finned Fai. Some Fai whisper names to each other as they walk by, smiles upon their faces for finding their loved one.

We then pass another large cell on the other side of the hall, filled with frail Fai, war vets, and even pups. One pups runs up to the cell door and tries to reach out from between the bars.

“Mem!” The pups cries, reaching for his mother's hand who tries to reach but is quickly pulled along with the rest of the line. She cries, tears streaking down her face as her pup continues to call after her, his pleas becoming more desperate for her as she walks further away from him. We continue walking on, trying to drown out the sobs, in order to keep ourselves from crying along with them.

The corridor becomes stone stairs that swirl up, the wet stone making it easy for us to slip and drag the ones above us with us, to prevent this we hold our hands on each other’s back, so if one slips, the one behind holds them up.

We then suddenly stopped I look up, seeing the man opening a door on the ceiling that opens up with a loud creak and a slam hitting against the floor above heavily. Light floods into the staircase, blinding everyone for a couple seconds until we all get used to the brighter light. 

He pulls us forward and out of the door, step out onto hot dirt, heat hitting us with hot dry air that burn against my chilled skin. I look around, trying get my barring, maybe recognize the place,  _ There's no way we can be far from home. _ I couldn't be anymore wrong.

We seemed to be in the middle of nowhere, nothing but desert everywhere with orange sand and mountains around. There is a simple wooden fence around the large open space were standing in and a stone building behind the door, but other than that it's empty. The dirt underneath me burned against my soft soles of my feet just as the sun beating against my skin, drying my fins and scales. The young man ties the beginning of the rope to a hook in the ground I hadn’t noticed earlier then walks over to the stone building where he looks like he's about to open the door but it opens before he can even touch the handle. A hand with an umbrella in hand reaches out from the building, and the young man takes the umbrella and opens it universal the door. A woman steps out, something like a clipboard in hand. 

She had a short tan shirt that looked like she was trying to pass off as a dress, that showed off her dark skin and round thighs. Her black hair was tied up into a high ponytail and dark glasses covered her eyes. She strides proudly over to the front of the line, the young man following close, holding the umbrella over her to shade her from the punishing sun.

“Hey, Ayashia.” The younger man leans in towards her, his chin almost resting in her shoulder.

“Auburn if you so much as touch me, I’ll have Virgille neuter you.” The woman, Ayashia, says plainly, it makes the man, Auburn, quickly move away from her.

Ayashia looks up from her paper and tilts her head to the side as she pops her hip and rests the clipboard on it.

“Strip.” She says to the first Fai in line. He looks at her, confused, looking to the side as if he's not sure he's heard her correctly.

“I said strip. Or do you want to be chased around by Auburn like the dog he is?” She puckers her bright red lips out like a fish and stares at the Fai like he's daft. Auburn on the other hand glares at the back of Ayashia’s head.

The Fai suddenly struggles to gets his clothes off as fast as possible but isn't sure about to take his shirt off with the rope tied around his collar. Ayashia sighs, annoyment obvious in her voice. He continues to struggle until he just squeezes his body through the neck hole of his shirt to take it off. 

His face flushes red as he looks down in embarrassment. It’s not that nudity has ever been taboo within the clan, we actually tend to wear little to no clothing during the hot summer, but this woman was no Fai. She walked around him, looking him over and writing notes down. She rans her fingers through his pale blue hair, tugging on it lightly. 

“Hmm..” She hums, lifting his hand and rubbing her fingers on the webbing between his fingers, the the scales on his hands and shoulders. She smiles and writes something down. 

“What’s your name?” She looks straight at him, popping her out again. 

“F-f-f-fa-fa…” He stutters in fear. She just sighs, most likely rolling her eyes under the dark lenses.

“Alright, Fa it is.” She puckers her red lips out and writes his name down before moving down the line to the girl next to me and just stands there staring at the girl. She stares right back, shaking in fear, not sure what to do.

“Well? Whatcha waiting for kid? Think i’ll give you a different order?” Her outlined eyebrows risen. She groans and pinches the bridge of her nose. 

“I hate this job….” She mumbles under her breath. “Strip!” She shouts at the girl. The girl flinches from the sudden shout and quickly undress from her night gown. She crosses her arms across her chest to cover herself at least some bit. 

Ayashia does the same thing, touching her hair, looking her over and taking her name. She then walks over to me and gives me the same look as earlier, expecting me to strip. I raise my head a bit, trying to stand a bit proudly. A bit too proudly. 

She sighs angrily, taking off her lenses and her yellows glare at me. 

“Strip.” She growls. As in a dog growl, the deep throaty growl of pissed off dog. Chills run up my back, my hair standing on ends,I struggle to take off my shirt and the rest of my clothing. 

She puts her lenses back on and looks me over like the rest, I look forward trying not to acknowledge the looks ‘Auburn’ is sending towards me. Ayashia walks back in front of me and writes something down.

“Name.” She says monotony without looking up at me. I grin.

“Kilogiatara Tagmasta.” I say with the thickest Faerie accent I can possibly pronounce it with. She just looks at me, either out of anger or surprise and confusion but it's really hard to see with her dark lenses.

“Kilo, it is…” She mumbles and writes it down before walking to the next Fai to look them over. I frown,  _ My name isn't star… _

She looks back at me and notices something my chest. She gently lifts the silver arrow necklace around my neck.

“What's this?” She asks softly, curiosity in voice.

“Personal.” I say harshly.

“Alright. Try not to lose it then.” She says, almost too calmly, and turns her attention to the next Fai.

I make the mistake of looking over at Auburn. He grins and leans over toward me, his nose almost touching my neck. His breath heating up a spot in my neck.

“You look good like this, pet.” He whispers into my neck. I grit my teeth in fury. I step back from him and punch him in the face sending him back and his back. Ayashia turns at the sound of the hit and Auburn's body falling backwards.

“Pfft-!” She starts laughing at him loudly, holding her stomach as she bends over. “Awww baby Auburn got knocked over by a Fai! Man my day just got made!” She continues to laugh wiping tears from her eyes, before going back to her work, still softly chuckling to herself.

Auburn slowly sits up rubbing his now red cheek, his eyes narrowing as he glare at Ayashia then slowly looks over at me. 

“Ayashia, let me have a go at it.” He growls as well, firling his lip up in anger, showing off his weirdly sharp teeth.

“No.” Ayashia answers, not even looking up from her paperwork.

“Ayashia let me have a go at it. Pet here needs to learn his place.” He snarls out.

“Stop whining pup. You deserved it.” She snaps at him, turning her head towards him. “Get up. I need my shade.”

Auburn grumbles and gets up, still glaring at me as he puts the umbrella back up above Ayashia.

After Ayashia checks over the rest of the line of Fai, she stands in front of the whole line and looks up when she’s done with writing something down. 

“Those who have been known for having a singing voice step forward.” She yells loud enough for all to hear.

Some Fai tentatively step forward, as do I. I’ve loved singing, in the rituals, in the weekly prayer, all songs I have found enjoyable, so I step forward as well. She takes a note down. 

“Step back.” We do as she says and step back. “Any dancers?” She asks again, some of the same Fai step up but others join as well. For myself, I have never been able to join in the ritual dances, I my feet can't keep the beat as well my feet can.

She asks about multiple talents, flexibility, arts, cooking, gardening, sewing, playing instruments and in the end asks if anyone has any other kind talent.

We've been standing in the hot sun for about an hour now, my skin felt hot and my scales dry. Sweat pooled on my brow and my back, I haven't even moved much but I was panting as if I've actually been chased around by Auburn. The girl to my right looks as if she is on the verge of passing out from the heat.

Ayashia eventually tells us to get dressed, which brings shade to our burning bodies but traps the heat closer to our skin. Were walked back toward the door, the last Fai being in front this time. We're lead back down inside, into the suddenly comfortably cool air of the underground cells. It was harder this time to keep each other from slipping in the wet stone now that we were too tired to even lift our feet off the ground properly. Were too tired to look up and try to find our loved ones, our head hanging down, stare blankly at our feet, and how they shuffle against the cold stone underneath.

We get herded back into the cell, untied from the lead line and left alone in the silence. I press my back against the cold stone, lifting my shirt to cool off my probably badly burned back. It feels good, not as good as the clean ocean water back home, but good enough to put a soft smile on my face, enjoying the relief. With this relief, I slowly begin to doze off.

I awake an hour later to Auburn walk towards our cell with a large bowl in his arms. We scramble away from him, clinging to each other and the wall. He unlocks the cells with the bowl resting on his hip before walking in and putting the bowl down. It's filled with a type of grain we've never seen and chunks of meat. He grins before walking out, leaving the door open. We watch him carefully until he's gone, then turn our attention to the bowl. It's not big enough to feed everyone in the group, not even big enough to feed half well, we're not even sure if the food itself is safe.

Auburn comes back with another similar bowl in hand places it down with a smirk on his face.

“Eat up pets. Wouldn't want your little belly to hurt.” He chuckles as he leaves the cell and locks it again. He laughs to himself as he walks away from our view.

With the second bowl we could possibly all eat a handful or two, although it was no where near to sate the grumbling in our stomachs. I stare hungrily at the bowl, my stomach reminding me that I haven't eaten in more than a day and I've almost vomited twice because of fear. I can see from the corner of my eye the others of the group eyeing the food both in suspicion and hunger, and hunger seemed to be slowly winning.

Suddenly multiple Fai rush to the bowls, tripping on their own feet, most likely trying their best to ignore the pain of the freshly cut off wings.

Another handful of us, including myself move after them, getting to the bowls. I grabs a handful of the grain, trying to get a bit of the meat as well before backing off and getting as much of my handful into my mouth and not onto myself or the floor.

I don't even taste it at this point, swallowing down the grain, barely chewing it. 

The ones who got to the food first notice that some haven't moved towards the food at all, they get up with the bowls and bring it to them.

“You need to eat just as much as we do…” One Fai mumbles as they hand the bowls over to them. The other Fai take small handfuls, too scared to leave anyone without a meal, but in the end everyone gets a bit fed.

We place the bowls by the door, and huddle back up together for warmth and comfort.

My lower back aches and I can feel the bandages feeling sticky against my skin, most likely from dried blood. Every slight movement hurts extremely but screaming in pain wouldn’t help me much. I hum softly to myself, a song everyone knows well, a song we sing during prayer every couple days,  but the tune is different this time, it's slower, sadder even.

“Silamem morsa’yiman yiusyis faree…”  _ Goddess let you light shine on me…   _ I sing softly, my words just barely echoing through the cell. Some Fai look up at me but I keep my face down, looking at my dirty feel.

“Ema… Ema ki’tra cirina deadra morrsa’vetra…”  _ For I ask for your help…  _ I sing a little louder, my voice this time echoing into the hall, I let the words echo before moving onto the next verse. Before I can even take a deep breath in to finish, the same Fai sing out the last one.

“Ema ki’tra cirina deadra morrsa’vetra…” They follow my words, their tune a bit faster, more lively than my own. It brings soft smile to my face, barely visible to anyone.

“Ame tisun giatra…!”  _ In this deed…! _ I let my voice ring throughout the hall, the Fai echoing after me, slightly delayed but the song seems to hold more power this way.

We repeat the chant, each time more and more of us singing along and making the tune faster, we can even hear the Fai down the hall join us, their voices deeper and stronger than our own. I raise my head as sing with everyone, a smile growing on my face as tears of not fear but joy streak down my face. This chant has always brought me luck, has always-

The door at the end of the hall slams open, startling everyone into silence.

“Who started to this ridiculous singing!?” The oldest voice yells into the hall and stomps down the stairs. Something slams against the metal doors as the man walks down the hall.

“Which one of you was it?! I will find this one out or none of will be whipped! I don't care if I have to hold you rats down here for a week!” He yells again. The Fai in my cell scramble away from the door and look around, some eyes focused on me.

The man stops in front of the cell, he's old with a three scars running across the right side of his face and across his eye which is blind. He slams his cane against the bars and glares around at us.

“Which one of you was it?! Huh?!” He growls out, baring his missing teeth in anger. Some Fai dare to look around and stop at me. He one working eyes looks at me and narrows.

“Was it you?” He says with false calm. My mouth dries as I softly nod my head and try weakly stand up.

He opens the door in a hurry and lumps quickly towards me, grabbing me by the collar and raises his cane towards me. 

“Don't hurt him!” The yellow haired Fai stands up and drags his arm with the cane down. 

“Get off of me!” He yells at her and hits her head with the cane with a large smack. She falls to the ground, holding her head in pain, whimpers coming off of her. He smacks her again on her back with the cane, making her squeal in pain. He then grabs me again by the collar and drags me into the hall and the throws me into the ground.

“Sit up, keep your hands on your knees.” He commands me and out of fear I follow his order.

I close my eyes expecting pain but I feel nothing, no pain from any hits. I wait silently, slowly opening my eyes. I slowly turn my head to look behind me open to have a bucket of cold water dumped onto me. My body tenses from the sudden loss of body heat and my teeth start to chatter.

Then the hits come, the cane smacking against my back with great force, making cry out in pain with each hit. I dig my nails into my legs, holding onto my pant leg almost enough to rip it. 

Then cane hits lower onto my back, smacking against the bandages from yesterday’s cuts. I screams echo, filling the earlier silence, tears welling  up in my eyes, blurring my vision, then streaking down my cheeks. I lean forward in pain, wanting to it stop, wanting it to just go away, wanting to be back home with Kada, dreaming about the life I could’ve had. 

I’m then hit by another bucket of cold water across my back, causing my body shake equally from the cold and the pain. My move my hands to hold my arms, trying to retain some body heat, but none seem to stay, the wet shirt on my back stealing most of it.

It is no longer a cane that hits my back, it some kind of whip, as my back feels cut open, not just bruised this time. The hits don't seem to stop, but i can't tell if it’s my screams that echo throughout the hall or the load cracks of the whip hitting against my back.

Suddenly they stop. All is silent again as I place my forehead onto the ground, my breath rapid and interrupted by keens of pain. My collar is grabbed from behind, choking me once again as I’m dragged onto my feet. The old man pulls me after himself, making me walk back to the cell before pushing me into it. I fall to the floor almost limply. Some Fai gasp in shock as they see me beat and in pain on the floor. Something is tossed after me into the cell.

“Bandage him up. And it better look good or him won't sell, and will get left here alone.” He threatens the group before I hear his footsteps walk away from the cell. Fai rush over to me, helping me up  into a sitting position before lifting my now ragged shirt up from my skin. One Fai uses her skirt to dry my face and arms off. I can't see what some are doing behind me but I feel the bandages around my missing wings be slowly peeled off of me. They are put to my side and I can see they are covered in not only old dried blood but fresh blood from when I was hit on my lower back earlier.

I can feel then fresh bandages being wrapped from my waist all the way to my shoulders, tightly constricting my movements even more. I hiss in pain from the constant pressure but I know it's for my own good. A Fai kneels down in front of me and cups my face, lifting it up gently, her hands soft against my face. I like ok up at her, her yellow hair framing her face as he thumbs rub my cheeks. She smiles softly, her seems face gentle and calming to me.

“Are you okay...? What he did to you sounded like it hurt…” Her smile slightly dropping.

“I… I’m okay. I think.” I try to smile back but it hurts. Everything hurts. I scrunch my face up in pain.

“Shhh… Shhh… It's going to be okay… Everything is going to be okay now…”  She softly quiets me, caressing my face, wiping away my tears.

“Is... Is it going to scar….?” I mumble out my question, slightly turn my head toward the Fai behind me, tiring up the bandages.

“They don't look too deep. You might have faint marks but no deep scars.” One says, I guess she must of been a healer before since she sounds confident in her words.

“What's your name dear?” Andra asks quietly, trying to distract me from the pain in my back.

“Kilogiatara... But you can call me Kigia…” I reply just quietly, my voice hoarse from screaming earlier.

She chuckles and smiles at me, her purple fins just slightly shaking happily.

“It's nice to meet Kigia, my name is Andra. Now let's get you to lie down. You need to rest.”

My eyes widen, I am tired but I know the fear itself of the man coming back would keep me up all night. It's almost as if she can tell what i’m thinking as she says.

“Don't worry i’ll keep watch. We all will. We don't want you to get hurt again either.” 

She helps me lay down my stomach, my head resting on her lap. My eyes slowly close as I feel safe and somewhat comfortable for the first time in the past two days. Andra brushes her fingers through my hair, carefully detangling it, humming sweetly me to sleep.


	4. The Auction

Chapter 4

The Auction 

 

The little bit of sleep that I got was filled with nightmares. Auburn’s face kept coming up, grinning down at me, pulling on wings, feather by feather, his hands dragging over my skin. 

Every time I wake up, Andra tries to calm me down, brushing my hair gently with her fingers, humming softly to me. She makes me feel safe in this horrific place. She reminds me of who I am, that I haven't always been here, that I am not an object like the people holding us here want me to see myself as.

After I wake up for the fourth time during the night, the lights once again turn on, blinding all in the cell with the sudden flood of light. I try to sit up from Andra’s lap but my body aches and hurts all over from the slightest movement. I hiss through my teeth, closing my eyes from the bombardment of pain from every part of my body. My back hurts from the beating, my face from the sunburn, my head from the lack of sleep.

Banging rings throughout the hall, waking up the rest of the Fai who somehow stayed asleep even with the lights suddenly turned on.

“Wake up! Wake up! Get up! Line up!” The oldest voice yells into hall, ordering us around. We groggily stand up, our backs still aching. I struggle to sit up alone but Andra helps me to my feet, bearing most of my weight as I lean against her. 

The world around me spins, and I feel sick from the bright lights and blood loss. The bandages on my back feel sticky and stiff, soaked with dried blood. 

“Tie up the others first, then lead them up to the first cart. Only then get the built ones. Pets go last. I don't want to hear any crying again cause they saw their mates.” The oldest voices hisses.

“Yes, Nolan.” The kinder man sighs. He sounds tired, or upset, it's hard to tell without seeing his face. 

The cell door creaks but the silence continues after that, until steps are heard walking on the stone. 

“Keep your heads down! You are not to look at your superiors and owners’ face. You are no longer anything more than a thing!” Nolan yells out, most likely hitting the Fai he is yelling at. 

The footsteps shuffle against the stone then fade. The same happens with the second cell, the door creaking open, Nolan yelling, and the shuffling of feet and then silence.

The kinder man steps in front of our cell and opens the door. We don’t move away from him as much as we do from our other captors. When he walks in, he keeps the door open and kneels down in front of one Fai and slowly holds his hand out to her. She carefully shuffles towards him and puts her webbed hand in his large one. He leans forward and carefully ties the rope to her collar.

“What’s going to happen to us?” She whimpers quietly to him, her voice quivering with fear. He sighs and rubs his thumb over the back of her hand.

“Were going to take you to the city now and sell you on the auction. I dont know whats going to happen to you after that. I’m sorry...” He whispers to her, but just loud enough that the rest of us can hear. Soft gasp and cries sound through the cell, some Fai holding onto each other in fear, not wanting to be left alone in a strange place with people who don't treat us as people.

I hold onto Andra’s hand tightly, her body shaking in fear, and tears threatening to run down her face. 

“Why?” I mumble out, my eyes on the floor before me. “Why are you doing this?” I question him, my upper lip curling up in anger.

I look up at him without lifting my head, glaring at him, waiting for his answer. The man has a dumb look on his face, almost surprised by my question.

“I…I don't know to be honest. People do many awful things for money and power.” He sadly mumbles out, looking back at the Fai in front of him, gently rubbing her hand.

“That’s not an answer!” A Fai behind me yells at him, his hands clenched into fists and shoulders hunched up. He looks just about ready to punch the man.

“Virgille! Do you have those slaves tied up or not?!” Nolan yells from down the hall, his voice sounding even angrier than the Fai behind me, who crumbles at the man's voice. 

The man, Virgille, takes a deep breath in, clearly annoyed by the older man. 

“Almost!” He turns towards the hall to yell back. 

Virgille then looks over at us, sympathy practically dripping from his face. He gently places the Fai’s hand back on her lap and smiles at her gently. He treats every Fai he ties with great care and gentleness. I try to glare at him but his soft, depressed smile softens out the look on my face as I let him tie me to the rope. I look at the floor with disappointment in myself, for letting myself be treated like cattle because of one man’s sympathy.

He walks us out of the cell after that, not pulling on the rope but guiding us down the hall and up the spiral staircase. The door was open by the time we got to it and we step out into the cold air of early morning in the desert.

The sun seemed to be just rising on the far horizon, slowly turning the sky an angry red with lines of orange clouds. The sand didn't burn this time but was cool against the soles of my feet. 

The court yard wasn't as empty as before. It was filled with three large cage like carriages, each pulled by four horses each. 

My own breath clouds my vision as were pulled along to the carriage to the far right. Virgille pulls the door on the back of the cage open and lifts the first Fai into the carriage, then the next and the next slowly filling the carriage up with our group. His breath huffs into my face as he lifts me into the cage. I stand there until he lifts the Fai behind me, the line around my next keeping me in place. After that, I sit next to the Fai in line with me.

The cage slowly fill up till all Fai that were in my cell sit with me, stuffed into the carriage. The sun is a little higher at this point, the sky a more pink color but the air was still cold, steam rising from the horses’ noses and mouths as they stand impatiently, eager to move. 

Virgille closes and locks the cage door before climbing up into the seat at the front of the carriage. 

“All done Nolan. We should move out.” Virgille yells to the other carriages. My body flinches as a whip cracks through the air. I stare ahead, my eyes not focusing on anything,trying not to think back to the pain of the whip hitting my back. Then slowly bright yellow curls come into my sight. 

I blink and I see Andra’s face, her hand coming up to caress my face, rubbing her gentle thumb over my cheek.

“Shh dear, it's okay, I won't let them hurt you again.” She whispers to me. I nod just as the carriage jerks into motion. The horses’ whines shriek into the early morning as they pull the carriage forward, billowing up dust, creating their own clouds to cover up the angry sky. I turn my head and see the other carriages are not far behind us, the horses blowing out a storm as well. 

I watch the sky throughout the ride, watching it calm and become a gentle blue as the bright sun suddenly heats up the air and my skin. The thin film of my fins seems to dry almost in an instant. 

I get lost in my own thoughts, wondering if Auburn is holding that umbrella for Ayashia and if he’s still trying to hit on her. A soft chuckle escapes me, but is drowned out by the sound of hooves and the metal of the cage shaking loudly.

I think back to my little home back on the island, think back to the last morning there, how I maybe should’ve stayed in it longer, stayed with Kada just a bit longer. I wonder if I’ll ever get to see him again, smiling at me from the corner of my eye, holding my hand and holding me tightly against his chest.  _ I should’ve stayed with him longer, should’ve spent the day home with him, enjoyed more the last bit of time we'll ever get together. _

Tears well up in my eyes as I grasp the tiny arrow tightly in my hand, my knuckles turning white,  _ I want to go home,  _ but I quickly wipe them away with the back of my hand.  _ Now is not the time to worry about that. _

  
  
  


What feels like hours pass by in the miles of angry red dirt that creates dozens of dust clouds from the slightest of breezes. I leaned forward after some time, the metal of the cage heating up from the harsh sun enough to burn. My skin feels dry and hurts whenever I slightly move in my cramped spot.

“What’s that?” One Fai asks next to me, staring at something in the distance. I turn my head achingly to look. An object shines in the bright desert light, almost brighter than the sun beaming down on us. I don't look away, trying to decipher if it’s my own dehydrated imagination creating it or if it’s an actual thing in the distance.

It takes a while but the distance between us and the object becomes closer. By now I can make out that it's some kind building or even a city with clean white walls surrounding it, reflecting light just like a mirror.

“Is… That where they're taking us?” I can here Andra ask in front of me, her face more curious than scared compared to the Fai around us.

I spend time by watching the white walls slowly grow into a city, right on the horizon, with red mountains as a contrasting background. We're close enough that I can see towers peering from above the walls with decorative shingle tops and spirals.

Soon after that deep red tapestries come into view, hanging proudly on either side of a closed metal gate. There must be no wind as they stand still, showing of the gold embroidery of the city's emblem. The lines of it curl around it each other but end in jagged ends.

I don't notice that awe washes over me from the sheer size of the walls that continue to get closer and larger as seconds pass until we stand in front of them, the white walls towering over us a good 50 feet.

The horses scream and buck in discontent because of the sudden stop. Their breaths heave with exertion as we approach the gate, their skin sheen with sweat in the harsh light.

Two guards were stationed on either side of the gate, large metal helmets cover their heads and face, and feathers flow down their backs with reds and oranges. One walks up to Virgille, his spear hitting the ground with each step.

“State your business in Pamphilos.” The man says sternly, his voice slightly muffled by the helmet.

“We're here for today's slave auction.” He answers, taking some type of papers from his pocket and handing it over to the guard. He takes them and looks them over. 

“You're with Sier Nolan, yes?” The guard asks. Virgille nods his head in agreement.

“And about how many slaves do you have with you?” 

“I would say somewhere near 150, 170 islander slaves.”

“Islander?” The guard seems surprised and walk over towards us, I stare back, the gleam of his helmet hurting my eyes. “Are these some kind of new race or did you breed them? I know some of the higher ups have been trying to figure out how to breed them.”

“No they're caught. We haven't figured out their secret either but I do wish them luck. May we pass through Sier?” Virgille answers the man as I glare down at the guard, who scoffs at me and walks back to the front and gives Virgille the papers back.

The guard nods and steps out of the carriage’s way as the gate grunts and clanks slowly open. When it is finally open far enough to get through, the horses pull forward at a much slower pace. 

I stare in awe as we pass through the gate, the air here is not only cooler but not as dry either. Sunlight shines off the white walls just as brightly as the white marble buildings that fill the walls. Colored glass fills all windows, coloring some of the walls with images of flowers and riches. The same red tapestries outside fly inside on the walls of buildings and on the corners of crowded streets. 

Streets of black and gold tiny glass mosaics with intricate patterns and shapes that sparkle from every angle with beauty. Stalls stand on each side of them with fabric to cover the merchants and their goods from the sun and heat. 

My eyes searched the crowds, dumbstruck by the sheer amount of people and noise, but just then I noticed that the beauty of the building and streets hid the true ugliness of its residents. Weaving their way right behind people dressed in multicolored clothing from soft fabrics are the ear’s of the short Fai, struggling to not get lost in the mass. Dread comes over me.  _ There must be a hundred of us just in this crowd.  _

I quickly turn back around toward Andra. “Do you see them?” I ask her, my tongue feels thick in my mouth with fear. She gives me a small nod, her eyes looking past me, staring at the crowds of people and Fai, completely bewildered by the sight. 

I suddenly feels a hand on my lower back, groping and feeling there. I stiffen from the unwarranted touch and slowly turn my head to see a man walking along with the carriage just to feel my back. He grins at me, looking me over like I'm some kind of gem.

“Hey pretty boy, would you like to come home with me?” He asks me, his voice dripping with venom. I narrow my eyes, trying to glare at him but just the idea that someone could look upon me as if was just an object is just so absolutely improbable to me that I look at him with more shock than anger.

I then snatch his hand from my back and promptly put it in the metal of the cage. I smile as his hand sizzles against the heated bars and his grin disappears and is replaced with a sudden scream of pain. He falls to the mosaic ground, holding his red hand as we ride away. 

I smugly turn back toward Andra. Her eyes are wide open as she stares at me in complete surprise, the rest of the Fai giving me the same kind of expression.

“What…? D-did I do something wrong?” I quietly ask, not so sure of my own actions anymore. Andra shakes her head, a smile slowly growing on her face as she gently pats my face in praise. I smile with her, once again proud of my actions.

 

We ride for another couple minutes, all the building of the city different from each other in their own ways but all made of the same kind of white marble, with colored glass windows and velvet tapestries hanging from all the empty walls. Some tapestries seem to have a different emblem embroidered onto them and the velvet a different color. Some buildings have towers rising from them that seem to tower even the walls that surround everything in the city.

All of it seems beautiful in a regal kind of way. This is past the type of luxury I have been taught about. For me, having a nice home in a large tree with a view of the water was perfect enough. But these buildings were on the edge for me of beauty for one's enjoyment and beauty to show people you are above them. This immodesty slowly came over me after watching so many of the same building go past.

But my train of thought doesn't get finished as the carriage rides into a dark tunnel, lit by lights that seems to float on their own. The horses’ steps echo against the walls until they come to a stop at the end of the tunnel, a second one leading off of it to the right. 5 men stand at the entrance of the second tunnel, dressed just as the guards at the gate, but the man in the middle seems to be wearing delicate robes, thick enough to cover his skin but thin enough to keep his body cool in the desert heat. He steps forward, holding his arms wide as Virgille steps down.

“Virgille! My favorite client! Is Sier Nolan with you?” He exclaims happily as he embraces the reluctant Virgille.

“Sier Phineas! It has been a while. Nolan is in one of the other carriages” Virgille answers, but with less enthusiasm as Phineas, only patting the other man on the back instead of hugging him.

Phineas then steps back with an untrustworthy grin covering his face as he walks closer to us. He nods and rubs his stubbled chin with his finger and thumb.

“Hmmm… This is the new shipment of slaves yes? I've never seen such vibrant hair color! Is it dyed?” The man turns to ask Virgille, still holding his chin with his fingers. 

“From what we know, no. The color seems to be natural since even the youngest ones have exotic colors.” 

“How unique! And the fins! Oh they're so pretty. I wonder how the scales feel…” The man mumbles to himself as he reaches towards the Fai in front of him.Said Fai scurries away from him, curling up next to the others.

“Quite easily spooked I see. I hope that can be changed or I'll have many upset customers.” He grumbles as he turns back to Virgille. “Well, the auction should be starting soon and you have this large shipment to unload so I'll leave you to it.” He nods his head and walks back into the second tunnel, followed by two of the four guards. Just then out of the corner of my eye, I notice a Fai following after him, his head bowed and back hunched over to keep his black hair covering his face as he silently follows after the overdressed man.

Virgille then sighed quietly to himself and rubs his face as he walked around the carriage towards the door and unlocking it with an unoiled creak. He helps the first Fai in line down and the next one afterwards.

The other carriages arrive just as Virgille helps me down, Ayashia sitting on the front one with Nolan right next to her.

“Fucking traffic, fucking crowd, fucking asshole who tried to flirt with the cargo!” Ayashia grumbles loudly as she jumps off and heads to the back of the carriage.

“You alright Ayashia?” Virgille asks.

“Fuck off.” She growls back at him, giving him a rude gesture, her shoulder scrunched up in anger. Virgille sighs and shrugs his shoulder as he helps the next Fai down.

Nolan quietly steps off the carriage and limps over to Virgille, the sound of his cane hitting the stone reminding me too much of the other night. I flinch in fear of the older man and put my head down, trying to make myself as small as possible and stay out of his sight. 

“Don’t mind her. We got cut off in the crowd from you and she just got worried.” The older man laughs and pats the younger on the shoulder. “Have you spoken to Phineas yet?”

“Yeah, he seemed excited with the shipment. But we need to unload quick, he said the auction is starting soon so I’d say we only have about a half hour left.” Virgille grumbles as he takes the last Fai of the carriage. 

“Hopefully they’ll sell well. Shipping them all the way from their little island to here cost me quite the pretty copper.” Nolan chuckles, I can’t see what he’s doing with my head down, but I feel a rough hand petting the top of my head, smoothing my frizzy hair out.

“Gods help me if this doesn’t pay off…” He grumbles under his nose as he walks towards the second tunnel. Virgille walks after him with the lead rope in his hand, the first Fai following after him with his head hanging low. 

The shuffling sound of our bare feet against the stone quietly echoes through the tunnel, filling in the dreadful silence. The hall is lit brightly but not by torches but by floating balls of bright light, twinkling lightly like stars, it’s nothing like I’ve ever seen.

As we go further into the tunnel, sounds of people begin to echo in, louder and louder until we reach the brightly lit end that blinds me and the noise of crowds drowns out the sound of my feet. 

When my eyes slowly begin to adjust, I begin to see thousands of people sitting in a hall, each dressed in exquisite robes with feathers and jewels hanging off of them, us looking down on them from a podium. Further down the walkway is Phineas, standing in a beam of light as the rest of the stage is dark. 

“Ladies and Siers, Witches and Wizards of Pamphilos, I welcome you to today’s auction!” He announces, his voices somehow so loud and clear that it seems as if he was standing in front of me. The crowd cheers him on, as he gives them a slight bow. 

“Today Ladies and Siers we have a unique and exotic shipment of never before seen Elven slaves! These creatures have dark fair skin, and hair colors don’t seem natural but are! Scales cover their bodies and fins grow from their ears and between their fingers!” He describes us as if we’d be some kind of new furniture that the carpenter is too excited about showing off to the clan.

I scrunch up my nose in disgust of the man,  _ We are not things and we certainly are not elves. _

The crowd murmurs in excitement, as they look around between each other, anticipating to see us.

“Now, we will start first with pets!” Phineas announces as he looks down at his clipboard then back up. “First we have Viv!” A Fai stumbles onto the stage, her wrists tied to her collar, her body stripped of the little of clothing she was wearing earlier.

“Now Viv here is a pretty little thing, quite the hour glass shape on her that goes beautifully with her talent of dancing!” He continues, placing his hand in her still bandaged up lower back. He towered over her, scaring her enough that her green hair hid her face. 

“Now don't be scared Viv, show us your pretty little face.” He lifts her head up by her chin, the light making her face look more round and smooth.

“Alright we'll start bidding at 1000 pieces!” Phineas turns back to the crowd with a wide grin. 

“I see 1000, now I'm asking 2000!”

“ Now 3000! 4000!”

Do I see 5000? Now 6000! 7000? No? How could you say no to these pretty purple eyes? 7500? No?”

“Sold! 7000 pieces to handsome Sier Frantog!” He grins and hands ‘Viv’ over to two guards that escort her from the over lit podium and into the unknown darkness of the crowd.

I watch in horror as this process repeats multiple times, a fai is pushed out into the light, the auctioneer gives a brief description, starts the bidding then hands off the Fai to the two guards once they are sold off like cattle. Each time brings me closer and closer to the stage.

I stand ridged when I’m next, the wall of light just in front of me, my hands shake but I can’t hear anything around me as someone strips me of the little clothing I had on, but I clench my necklace from their hands not giving up the little I now own.

Then all of a sudden I’m pushed forward into the light, forced from the uneasy comfort of the darkness into the unknown light and pushed towards the horrid auctioneer. The push itself sends pain through out my cut up and badly patched up back, but quickly disappears as fear takes over. Phineas grabs my arm before I fall on my face, and pulls me up to be shown off into the hidden crowd. My hand tightens around the tiny arrow as I look from the crowd to Phineas, my eyes searching his face as he says something but no words come out, the deadly silence scaring me even more. 

I feel like I stand there for ages, time slowing down, but for all I could know, I could of just started a bidding war rather than stopped time. I stare at his face, as he grins at me and hands my arm to two armor covered ones. 

Everything becomes a blur; the pain of my arms being held too hard, my feets dragging against the carpeted floor, my eyes blinded by the transition from light to dark again with no time to adjust. All I hear is my staggered and shaky breaths that fill the otherwise silence. Then I’m pushed onto the floor by the metal hands that held me up, my face hitting the plush carpet.

Everything hurts to much, so I lay there until a hand grasps my chin and tilts my head up. My eyes flick up but I see this time. 

The woman holding my head up looks well into her age, her face covered in wrinkles from the odd lighting, her silver hair flowing over her shoulders and the dark red lipstick made her thin lips look even thinner. She says something but at first I don’t hear it. She frowns and drops my head, my chin hitting the carpet and rattling my teeth. 

“Ungrateful pet…” I hear her say this time, a ‘tsk’ following afterwards. She pushes her wavy hair behind her shoulder, lifting her chin up and looking back to the podium. My eyes flick back down onto the carpet as I weakly lift myself of the ground to at least sit up. I sit on my knees, my head bowed, I don’t know this woman or how she’ll treat me but from the little interaction I already had I can already tell she isn’t pleasant.

“Next we have Andrea!” Phineas’ voice rings through the hall.  _ Andrea? Does he mean Andra?  _ I lift my head suddenly, my vision slightly going blurry as I try to look over the heads of the robed people from my spot on the floor.

“Andra…” I mumble myself, weaving my head to find the best view until I see her yellow hair being lit up by the bright lights of the podium, making it look like golden embroidery string. 

“Stop squirming.” The woman hisses, her handing hitting me across the head, making me duck and lose track of Andra. I put my hands over my head in pain as I hear the bidding start, but from the corner of my eye, I can she the witch raise her hand as well, bidding on Andra. I don’t know whether to feel thankful or curse the woman. 

I try to listen to the bids, keeping my head down just in case the witch decides to hit me again. 

“Nenan, dear, could you go and get my carriage ready?” I hear her say quietly to someone next to her. I don't hear this ‘Nenan’ respond but just by the name I can guess he's a Fai. Footsteps walk quietly away, barely audible as to not attract attention.

“Leaving already? You haven't even won her and the one you have bought looks like a scrap.” Some lady to my left says, mockery dripping from her tone.

“At least my ‘scrap’ looks better than whatever it is that is on your head. What were you calling it again… Oh wasn't it your ‘new haircut’! Ha! It looks more like something a cat vomited up.” The witch laughs, most likely with a smug look on her face.

“Sold! To our lovely Lady Marzepan!” Phineas says from the stage. I turn my head slightly to look at the witch as she sips her wine. She places the glass on the small table to her left and stands up.

“It was good to see you tramp.” She grins as she grabs me by the color and pulls me up. “Get up. We're leaving.”

I scramble to get up without choking on my collar, for the fourth or so time. Two guards approach us, Andra barely standing between them, her eyes wide and her face clearly showing fear of both of them. Then they push her into the ground in front of us. 

“Andra…!” I whisper and pull out of the witches grip and kneel down in front of Andra helping her up from the soft carpet. I hold her weight up no matter how much my body protests and face the witch again.

“Alright….” She says giving us a skeptical look before turning around and walking forward. “Let's go. I have many things to do before this day is over and it does not include on waiting on you two.”

I follow, my eyes on the backs of her feet as I walk slow enough that Andra can keep up in her scared state but fast enough not to lose the witch. She leads us to double doors that are opened by two Fai dressed practically nothing but scraps of flowing black fabric adorned by sparkling jewels and bead work. She walks through the doors, not paying attention at all to their bowed heads, but I can barely look away.  _ They look more like jewelry themselves. _

The room we are led to is more brightly lit, with deep purple carpets that tickle the soles of my feet. The walls are the same white marble as I saw outside, polished and covered with tapestries with a sharp emblem embroidered into the fabric. She walks towards the next pair of double doors, once again opened with barely clothed dark skinned Fai.

Heat hits my skin as we walk through the doors that shut heavily behind us. The sunlight isn't as bright as the lights inside but it burns with dry heat. As my eyes adjust, I can finally see the carriage the witch called for earlier. It's white as everything else in this city, with swirling carving on the edges and a swirly insignia painted onto the door in black and pulled by two black horses with harness adorned with glass gems. An unnaturally tall Northern Fai, his skin pale and almost the same color as his white hair opens the door to the carriage for the witch. He’s oddly wearing a thick coat with fur at the collar, almost hiding his silver and red decorative collar. She steps up and into the carriage and sits down on the plush fabric interior.

“Well? What are you two waiting for?! Get in!” She yells from inside the carriage. I panic and drag Andra with me inside. I whisper a soft thank you in Faerie as I step inside and help Andra up with me. 

“On the floor.” She hisses at me, just as I try to sit in the cushions across from her. I don't say anything back but a soft sigh and help Andra sit down into my lap.

“Nenan, my tailer please.” She says after the Fai closes the carriage door. He gives a short nod and promptly walks away from view. The carriage shakes then straightens,  most likely from under the Fai’s weight, before the sound of whip makes me flinch again and the carriage jerks into motion. My eyes stare into Andra’s yellow curls, hoping that we’ll be okay wherever our new ‘owner’ takes us.


End file.
